Dan Gable

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Olympic wrestling coach Dan Gable will speak to grade school and high school wrestlers and coaches Dec. 28 at Weissbourd-Holmes Family Focus Center in Evanston. Gable, an Olympic gold-medal winner and former coach at Iowa, will discuss motivation, training and preparation for wrestling and life. Also on hand will be four-time Illinois high school champion Joe Williams, a three-time NCAA champion at Iowa and an Olympic team alternate. Gable, Williams and members of the Hawkeye Wrestling Club, which Gable coaches, will sign autographs and posters.

Bob Bowlsby's job isn't getting any easier. The Iowa athletic director faces the possibility in the next five years of having to replace football coach Hayden Fry, basketball coach Tom Davis and wrestling coach Dan Gable. The job of finding Gable's successor might be the toughest of the three. "No question he will leave a very cold shadow in his wake," Bowlsby said. "I think he feels a little of the effects of his own success. If he doesn't go undefeated, win the Big Tens and win the national championship.

Despite four Illinois high school state titles, Joey Gilbert has had his doubters. They said Gilbert's tactics, his physical style and his unorthodox moves, wouldn`t work on the college level like they did when he was at Andrew High School in Tinley Park. What worked against boys, according to this logic, wouldn`t work against men. The University of Michigan sophomore proved his critics wrong Saturday as he took third place at 134 pounds in the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Carver Hawkeye Arena.

After spending five days in the hospital for hip-replacement surgery, Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable says he hopes to return to work sometime next week. Gable, who is in his 21st season and has guided Iowa to 14 national titles, will be on crutches for three months of rehabilitation, but will return for a double-dual meet against Illinois and Arizona State Feb. 8 in Iowa City. Football: At least two cities have contacted the NFL about hosting the San Diego Chargers next season should a controversial expansion of Jack Murphy Stadium be halted by a referendum, team President Dean Spanos said Tuesday night.

Wrestling legend Dan Gable says what's on his mind. Gable, who retired as Iowa's head coach in 1997 but has returned to assist former pupil Tom Brands, has a vested interest in Big Ten wrestling. Seven schools are coached by former Gable wrestlers or assistants. A few years ago, Gable was concerned by several poor seasons from Northwestern. "I was worried," Gable said this month. "I have a lot of pride in Northwestern wrestling. But coach [Tim] Cysewski has done a pretty good job of getting people on the coaching staff, and they really have come a long way."

Over the years, few have beaten Dan Gable on or off the wrestling mat. Opponents might be running out of chances. The Iowa wrestling coach has brought another defending NCAA champion to the nationals, which start here Thursday at the Target Center, with the knowledge that his coaching career is nearing the end. Gable, 46, has coached the Hawkeyes to 13 NCAA team titles, 37 individual titles and 137 All-Americans in his 19 years as head coach....

It took Dan Gable 17 years to be named the Big 10 wrestling coach of the year, but if the Iowa coach guides his team to its 21st straight conference title, he may repeat. Gable's Hawkeyes need one more conference title to become the all-sport conference record holder for consecutive championships, bettering the mark of 20 it shares with the great Indiana swimming teams. Iowa won three straight titles before Gable became head coach in 1977. Since he took over, his Hawkeyes have a 114-2-1 dual-meet record and have won 12 NCAA team titles.

Get a grip on answers: Wrestling legend Dan Gable is heading an investigation into the deaths of three college wrestlers in the last seven weeks. Jeff Reese of the University of Michigan, Joe LaRosa of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Billy Jack Saylor of Campbell College in North Carolina died in workouts while trying to lose weight. Gable, a '72 gold medal winner whose Iowa Hawkeyes won 15 national college titles, told the Tribune: "I want to find out what happened so it won't happen again."

Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable has been asked to head an investigation into the deaths of three wrestlers in the last six weeks. Jeff Reese of Michigan, Joe LaRosa of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Billy Jack Saylor of Campbell (N.C.) died in preseason workouts while trying to lose weight. The NCAA is asking each of the schools to conduct individual investigations. Gable, who is on a leave of absence this season, will study their findings and ask some questions of his own in an effort to come to a conclusion.

The Iowa Hawkeyes, ranked No. 1 in the country, are returning to the Midlands Wrestling Championships this month with an eye on returning an NCAA championship to Iowa City. Last year, Iowa, with an inexperienced team, bypassed the tournament to prepare for the National Duals in January. After a third-place finish in last year's NCAA tournament and with six returning All-Americans, Hawkeye coach Dan Gable wants his team well prepared for the NCAAs, especially since they will be at Iowa City.